Newsom’s $200M Prop 50 Redistricting Push Passes, Paving Path for Democrats to Flip Five House Seats in 2026
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s controversial Proposition 50 passed overwhelmingly Tuesday night, handing Democrats a potentially decisive weapon in their fight to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026.
With more than 64% of voters approving the measure — totaling over 4.4 million ballots cast — Prop 50 suspends the state’s independent redistricting commission and hands full map-drawing power back to California’s Democrat-controlled Legislature until after the 2030 Census.
The Associated Press called the race the moment polls closed at 8 p.m. local time, underscoring the margin of victory despite widespread criticism over the measure’s cost, legality, and purpose.
“This was about standing up to Trump and standing up for our values,” Newsom said in a celebratory speech alongside his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “Donald Trump is a historic president. He is the most historically unpopular president in modern history.”
The Democrat governor and rumored 2028 presidential hopeful didn’t hold back in his remarks, framing the redistricting vote as a rebuke of Trump and a direct response to GOP redistricting in Texas, which is expected to deliver five new House seats to Republicans.
Prop 50 is California Democrats’ answer — and if successful, the newly drawn maps could help the party net five House seats of their own, especially in battleground regions of the Inland Empire, Central Valley, and Orange County.
The measure’s passage could be a death knell for Republican representation in the state. Currently, California Republicans hold only 9 of the state’s 52 congressional seats. Losing five more would all but wipe out the GOP’s House presence in the nation’s most populous state.
Despite bipartisan pushback over the price tag — estimated at more than $200 million in taxpayer costs — Newsom’s campaign was buoyed by a barrage of support from Democrat heavyweights. Former President Barack Obama, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and former Vice President Kamala Harris all appeared in pro-Prop 50 advertising aimed at the state’s 40 million residents.
“Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama said in one widely aired ad. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks.”
But not everyone in Newsom’s party was on board. Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the original legislation creating the Citizens Redistricting Commission, blasted the move.
“Texas started it. They did something terribly wrong. And then all of a sudden, California says, ‘Well, then we have to do something terribly wrong.’ And then now other states are jumping in,” Schwarzenegger told CNN. “Prop 50 takes the power away from the people.”
Under the new law, California’s Legislature can now redraw congressional maps at will — a power shift that critics argue dismantles decades of nonpartisan redistricting reform. The existing commission will be suspended until at least 2030.
While concerns over minority voter representation surfaced during the debate, the Public Policy Institute of California concluded that the new maps won’t jeopardize the voting power of those communities. The changes, however, will divide more cities and counties among multiple congressional districts, diluting GOP strongholds and consolidating Democrat power.
Newsom’s political maneuver is already being seen as a strategic play ahead of 2028. The governor’s willingness to go toe-to-toe with Trump on a high-profile, high-cost ballot initiative may boost his national profile as speculation swirls over a possible presidential run.
Democrats need to flip just three seats to reclaim control of the House in 2026. With Prop 50 now law, Newsom may have handed them five.